As an adult reading a book for a middle-school aged audience, I did not expect to find Puzzleheart so endearing or engaging. Our protagonist Perigee is delightful to follow and explore in the halls of the House. It was fun to experience the smart puzzles and interesting with our young main characters. As a bonus, it was refreshing to have a nonbinary child protagonist just be a child and not making a huge deal about gender. This story had heart with dashes of real problems families go through, and seeing the side of how it affects children. Puzzleheart is an all-around fun read that I believe the younger audience and their parents would enjoy reading together.

“Puzzleheart" offers a unique narrative enriched by its innovative use of perspectives, notably incorporating the viewpoint of a house. This unconventional approach of hearing the story from Perigees perspective and then hearing how the house sees it and its motives is a unique vantage point that was fun to explore.

However, the introduction of "they/them" pronouns, while commendable for its inclusivity, occasionally muddled the storyline for myself. Admittedly I have a hard time getting this adult brain to visualize or comprehend they/them can be one person, when there is frequently two characters. This was the first book I have encountered featuring the use of these pronouns. I anticipate that familiarity with this narrative style will enhance readability with subsequent readings.

Overall, "Puzzleheart" is a quick read that’ provides a thought-provoking journey with puzzle solving included. It also offers readers a fresh perspective on mental health and grief from multiple character portrayals and narrative structures.

Give a Houses POV and I’m there!

A visit to Eklund’s Puzzle House… a mysterious bed and breakfast that never opened. Built by the main characters, Perigee’s grandparents… Perigree is excited to see the marvel of the house as well as their grandmother, though their father is more on the reluctant side. Arriving alongside a blizzard. Perigee and all inside find themselves involved in a curious game the house has started.

I enjoyed this story and think it’s a great addition to the puzzle/unique house sub genre I’m assuming younger middle grade readers will enjoy the adventure. I recently just read a very similar book that had me wishing that the puzzles/riddles in Puzzleheart leapt more off the page…for me I never felt pulled into them.

The cover is absolutely stunning and having the houses conscious as a POV was thrilling! This was my first book by Reese and I will definitely be on the look out for more!

Thank you Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. Henry Holt and Co (BYR)
Releases 5/14

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This is a well-plotted middle-grade mystery for puzzle fiends and oddball misfits who don’t quite fit in, featuring a sentient house (which is bigger on the inside), rambunctious kittens, a morbid loner intrigued by death, and a science-loving misfit struggling with anxiety. I didn’t love the interstitial chapters from “The House," and felt its emotions and motivation were better explained by Lily and Perigee as they came to understand it through the natural arc of the novel. While there were moments of real danger and quite heavy grief, I think tweens and teens will love figuring out Puzzleheart’s clues along with Perigee, and ultimately grow fond of The House as much as I did.

I liked it. The House is quite a cool character even though the get carried away with protecting himself and grandma. \

Thank you to Henry Holt & Co. and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Perigee, a nonbinary twelve-year-old, travels with their father, Grayson, to his childhood home in hopes that Dad might make amends with his mother. Perigee’s grandmother, still in grief from the loss of her husband when Grayson was Perigee’s age, has forbidden puzzles and games of any kind and is planning on selling the Puzzlehouse. But there is a problem – the House, sentient, does NOT want this. The house was built by Perigee’s grandparents to be a fun B & B/escape room. The House, wanting Savannah to be happy again, takes matters into its own hands, so to speak, and starts a puzzle based on Grandpa’s note Perigee found in an old coat pocket. Perigee and houseguest Lily work together to solve the various puzzles and get the special coins before time runs out.

Disclaimer – I am no good at escape rooms so I was not often able to solve the puzzles with Perigee and Lily but I had fun reading this book. I would definitely recommend this book for puzzle lovers in grades 3 and up and will be ordering for my library.

#Puzzleheart #NetGalley

One of my most favorite books, and the one I loved most as a kid, is The Westing Game by Ellen Rankin. It's a classic, and one I still reread yearly for the childish joy I get from it (and because I still find it inspires me to write my own stories). Jenn Reese's Puzzleheart filled me with the same sort of joy and wonder that I get from The Westing Game, but with a little paranormal twist.

The main character, Perigee, is a precocious non-binary kid overly concerned with taking care of their father following a family tragedy. They get the bright idea to try to rebuild the burnt bridges between their father and their grandmother - who experienced a mirrored tragedy themselves.

The plot device, the puzzle house, is really just there for Perigee and their new friend, Lily, to learn a couple moral lessons. I appreciate a kids' story that does this, as I know I learned a lot from all the books I read as a kid, and I want the books I buy my nieces and nephew to do the same thing. This story is about acceptance, understanding, proper parental/child relationships, problem-solving, and friendships. Perigee and Lily come to blows a couple times due to their differences in upbringing and personalities, which provides some of the lesson learning and character growth.

This is definitely for younger middle grade readers though, with Rees writing in a sort of Dora the Explorer way - it's very narrator driven in that way, but that sort of device lends to children's fiction because it feels like you're being told a bedtime story. The puzzles are cool but not very clever, and Rees could've done with a bit more explanation at each part so that kids following along could try to solve it on their own, rather than just being told everything.

While Rees doesn't quite live up to my expectations (The Westing Game sets a high standard), I think this is a solid effort and a book I'm thrilled to share with my niblings, and which I know for sure they'll love!

"It had hurt itself, tying to fix something unfixable." - Ch 26


Puzzleheart is a quirky, character-driven story about a kid named Perigee who thinks it's their mission to save everyone. They orchestrate a visit for their depressed Dad and estranged Grandma to reconnect at the grandparent's (sentient) rundown puzzle-filled House in an attempt to help their Dad find joy again.

The House itself gets its own perspective in this book. Both Perigee and the House are facing generational conflicts and hurts. Perigee and the House learn that you will make yourself miserable by trying to make sure everyone else is happy. Make no mistake, this is a joyful and funny book with an incredible amount of heart. I definitely laughed out loud!

I adored the side characters, especially Lily. Every character was fleshed out and multidimensional, and I really sympathized with the adult characters. You can feel that the story is filtered through a kid's perspective, and the way Perigee interprets what's happening is around them is very well done. 10/10 and perfect for fans of The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie.

This book was written by an expert craftsperson ❤️🏠

Clever, brave, and whimsically charming, this story fed my soul and opened my heart!

I have loved all of Jenn Reese's novels but this one has a special place in my heart because of the wonderful and relatable main character Peri, the charming and fascinating House, and the plethora of puzzles complete with lovely illustrations that really bring the entire story to life.

Thanks so much to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I unfortunately will not be finishing this book. I didn't connect with the characters or the story. I didn't really like the writing style either. I hope others really like this one but it was not for me.

Perigee and their dad make a trip to visit grandma at her puzzle house. Perigee hopes that the visit will help their dad find himself once again. But what was intended as a restorative trip is becoming a nightmare as the puzzle house seems to come to life attempting to restore a life it once knew as well.
This book is a wonderful escape room in a book. I loved the characters and all the puzzles. I didn't care for the fact that the child was trying to take care of the parent, which is a common element I've noticed recently, but overall a great, intriguing story!

Thank you so much to Jenn Reese and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the eARC of this book to review. This is the perfect mystery book for middle school-ers and young adults. It was a fast read and had a good amount of tricky puzzle solving.

I have been trying to branch out more into middle grade recently. As a teen librarian, my focus tends to lean more toward YA and sci-fi/fantasy books. However, I have just seen a lot of fun and interesting MG recently and I wanted to have better recommendations for the younger library humans. This story was really fast-paced, with lots of puzzle solving and intrigue. I also liked the themes present in the story--solid discussion on mental health like panic attacks and depression, as well as nonbinary rep! I do feel like where the story lost me a bit was how repetitive it could seem, even though it was pretty fast-paced. The dialogue and general talking points (like that the mom is out doing a rescue) could get really tired, but I think that I am picking up on that as an adult who has read a lot, and I don't think my younger library patrons will take too much issue with that.

This was cute! A fast lower MG read with a nice amount of puzzle solving tricky enough to keep me guessing. I also appreciated the nonbinary rep and the way this book touches on mental health topics including panic attacks and depression.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

Perigee and her father are traveling to visit her estranged grandmother, Savannah Ecklund, who lives in the puzzle house that she built with her husband, Herbert. After he died suddenly when Perigee's father was young, Savannah sent her son to live with relatives because she was so consumed with grief. Perigee hopes that by bringing their father to visit, it will help him with his depression after losing his job and reconnect him with his mother. The house on Enigma Lane was supposed to be open to the public, and never was, so the puzzles Savannah and Herbert had planned never got to be operated. Savannah is in the house with Lily, whom she is watching while Lily's mother is doing search and rescue training, and the two have to sleep in the library because the rest of the house is so dangerous. Lily and Perigee are determined to solve the puzzle and make the house safe, but the House is not happy, and we hear from it in alternating chapters. The two children are able to find some coins that operate some of the puzzles, like a waterfall behind glass, but get lost in some of the secret passages, which is dangerous. They make some good progress, but Savannah is not happy at all, and threatens to raze the house because she wants to be left alone. This hurts the House's feelings, which makes things more dangerous. Will Perigee and Lily be able to solve the puzzle and reconcile Perigee's father and grandmother?
Strengths: Perigee's desire to help their father and reunite their family is admirable, and the idea of a puzzle house is enthralling. The details of the house are endlessly fascinating, and I sort of want a wooden puzzle version of the house to make, complete with tiny squirrel statues! Lily is a good foil for Perigee, and willing to go along with all of the plans while having ideas of her own. This has a happy ending, which is not always the case when a sentient House is angry with you.
Weaknesses: I always have a hard time believing that parents are so affected by grief that they abandon living children who need them, but I suppose it does happen. The father's depression is hinted at, but since it affects Perigee so much, more details about how the two deal with this might have been instructional for younger readers.
What I really think: This is very similar to Currie's The Mystery of the Locked Rooms (4/2/24), which had a puzzle house that had long been abandoned until children break in and solve the puzzles. This will be a big hit with fans of this author's Every Bird a Prince and A Game of Fox & Squirrels or books with sentient houses like Funaro's Watch Hollow or Josephson's Ravenfall.

Overall I liked the book. It was in the same vein as Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library and The Westing Game but with its own twist. The main character, Perigee, and her father visit her Grandmother (during a surprise blizzard) who lives in a house constructed by herself (The Puzzlemaster) and her late husband (The Architect). They get trapped in the house, but the grandmother is mourning her late husband and has turned her life away from all of her former interests. This leaves Perigee, her father, and a visiting neighbor, Lily, to solve the puzzle so they can leave the house. I am sure you can imagine the rest from here.

The hook in this story is that the house itself has a stake in the puzzle and actively tries to stop the group from solving the puzzles, at first gently and as it progresses, with a bit of vengeance. It all wraps up nicely but it is a good read to the end.

The only thing that grated me in the book (and it happened a lot) was the character Lily’s constant references to her mother who is out rescuing people in the blizzard. I am pretty sure there was a lesson here I was supposed to take away but for me it was just annoying. She basically whined the entire time about how her mother said this or that or would or wouldn’t have done a particular action. It didn’t add much to the story and it got really annoying. Even in the end the whole mother plot line got glossed over. I’m just not sure why it was necessary. It made me dislike the character, who was quirky and could have been a good foil for Perigee.

Still, it was a good read, and well written. I would recommend it.

This one was middle of the road for me. Things I loved:Perigee, the overall premise of the book, and the family issues brought up. Things I struggled with: I feel like a lot of dialogue was just repeated, Very similar lines that were repeating the same information until it became redundant. I do not think middle grade readers need that much hand holding. My biggest pet peeve with this was that the characters all used each other's names way too frequently. It felt so awkward and unnatural and really took me out of the story.

Overall, I think this is a fun read with some neat puzzles that readers can try to solve with the characters, It just needed a little more editing in my opinion.

Get ready to solve the mystery at the heart of this captivating new middle-grade adventure about family—and a house with a mind of its own—from the award-winning author of Game of Fox & Squirrels and Every Bird a Prince, Jenn Reese.

This was so much fun! Very good and well-written!

Jenn Reese's novel Puzzleheart is a delightful middle grade read. Reminiscent of Chasing Vermeer, readers are thrown into the puzzle house feet first with Perigee. The characterization and plot are original and quick to get through. This would be a great read for any middle grade student.

Perigee, a 12-year-old nonbinary child, has never met their grandmother. When they return with their father to his childhood home, they encounter much more than an estranged relative at The Puzzle House.

Forgive me a brief tangent, I promise it relates. When I was in middle school, I read The Outsiders and then was assigned to write a story about one of the characters. I wanted to write it from the perspective of a bar stool, witnessing a bar fight, but was told I wasn't allowed even though I STILL think it was a banger idea. Which is to say, when I found out there were chapters from the perspective of the house, I lost it a little bit.
The puzzle mystery is a staple of the middle grade genre, and I think this is a worth addition as a nice starter for those on the younger end of the middle grade scale. I didn't find the puzzles to be as challenge or intriguing as some, with more of a focus on mental health and family relationships.